University of South Carolina Beaufort softball continues winning ways

Jim Killian/USCB Athletics Caitlin Campbell (20) celebrates with her teammates. Campbell matched Layman's performance in game one as she went four innings and struck out six.

Jim Killian/USCB Athletics Ashlie Layman winds up in game one of a doubleheader against Edward Waters College. Layman pitched four innings and shut out the Tigers while striking out six.

The University of South Carolina Beaufort softball team has won its first eight games for the second time in as many seasons.

The Sand Sharks have won each game they have played handily, including two victories over NCAA Division I schools.

No. 21 USCB is powered by an electric offense, batting a collective .409 while scoring 72 runs through only eight games. Six players have a batting average of .500 or higher. Second baseman Katie Rietkovich is 9 for 13 with three home runs since moving to the leadoff spot.

While the offense has been sensational, the defense and pitching has matched its dominance. Holding their opponents to just a .224 average while posting a 1.60 earned-run average, the Sand Shark pitchers have terrorized opposing offenses.

Head coach Ty Rietkovich attributes his team’s continued success to the amount of talent on the roster.

“The biggest thing is the quality of the depth,” he said. “I think it’s just a situation where we feel like we have a little bit of a stacked deck. We just have to make sure we play the right cards each hand. That’s the toughest battle right now, is pulling the right cards out of the deck.”

The ace of the Sand Sharks’ deck has been sophomore Caitlin Campbell, who transferred from Armstrong Atlantic State after a stellar freshman campaign in which she won 20 games.

Campbell has three wins, including a complete-game shutout in which she only surrendered three hits. Alongside Campbell is Kristy Cook, who won 20 games last year on her way to All-Sun Conference honors.

Ridgeland's Ashlie Layman has not missed a beat coming out of high school and has become a force in the rotation.

Layman, who verbally committed to USCB as a sophomore at Thomas Heyward Academy, is coming off her second win as a Sand Shark, as well as a Sun Conference Pitcher of the Week award.

The former Rebel got her second win as a Sand Shark after making her first start in an 11-0 rout of Edward Waters College.

“We’ve had eight chances and so far we’ve been bigger than those eight,” Rietkovich said. “It can turn on down, but we’ve risen to it, and now we have to continue to work.”